If you don't mind putting yourself at the mercy of culinary school students, the 561 Restaurant's 8-course lunch is a steal for $35 on Thurs. & Fri. ( http://la-oc-foodie.blogspot.com/2006... , my review of their tasting menu dinner recently.) Not all the dishes are going to be a hit, but they're all generally good.

That aside, I also enjoyed Opus' spontaneous 3-course spontaneous tasting for $30 (which usually turns out to have a few extra amuses from the chef.

Thanks for the reminding me about 561. It appears that the prices change each week. Last weeks dinner price was $100 with lunch at $54. For $40 more, you can do Providence at $140. How much is Spago generally?

Actually that week was a special event too (they co-partnered with a winery for those meals, so the $54/$100 was a wine-inclusive tasting menu) ~ I was surprised by the price jump so was checking their site.

But yes, on regular weeks their menu shouldn't be much more than $35 for lunch & $65 for dinner.

their tasting menu Webbie is partially up (only dinner menu is available) ~ but I notice their Web information lags -- so call them on Wed./Thurs. to check. (they usually serving the tastings on Thurs/Fri for lunch & dinner)